Découverte de la France

We have been going to AVF Découverte de la France classes led by Andrée-Anne for years now.  We’ve learned quite a bit about the history, geography, architecture, and culture of France and especially Lyon.  (Andrée-Anne is a great teacher!)  Our final Découverte de la France class for this year was June 14, and the subject was Art Nouveau.  Andrée-Anne led us into several buildings in Lyon to show us Art Nouveau stained glass, mosaics, painting, wrought iron, wood work, etc. etc. Absolutely beautiful! A couple of the windows were even signed and dated by artrists. It's amazing how many gorgeous windows and how much lovely design work are hidden away in various buildings - even on doors leading to where the poubelles (garbage cans) are kept!

Here are some of the windows:

Two had artist signatures:

This one was created in 1904

 

Some lovely wrought iron work:

This is an elevator door.

Painted walls and ceilings:

 

 

Following our “field trip”, we all went to Andrée-Anne's for our usual end of the year luncheon. Andrée-Anne’s apartment is rather unique in that she and her husband have a large yard, complete with trees, flowers, bushes, and grass.  All of this is planted on top of the roof of the building’s garage!   So we gathered around the table on her patio overlooking her lovely yard.

Enjoying our lunch - that's Andrée-Anne
in the white next to David

She had asked us each to bring a dish “plat salé” (as opposed to a sweet or dessert dish) to share. We had SO much great food; with several nationalities represented you are sure to get an interesting, delicious mix of dishes!  And, of course, the wine, apperitifs, and digestifs flowed (some were borderline lethal).  We even sang some French folk songs Andrée-Anne has taught us through the years.  (As I remember, the volume increased with each additional glass consumed.)

These end-of-the-year parties are always so much fun.  Not only are the food and drink wonderful, but we also enjoy conversing on a variety of subjects with a very interesting group of people we wouldn’t know otherwise.  We are fortunate that Andrée-Anne decided to create this class and has continued with it each year; we’ve certainly learned a lot about France and the French and, of course, lovely Lyon.  We are definitely looking forward to enrolling in the class on our return.